1902 Encyclopedia > Outlaw

Outlaw




OUTLAW, in English law, is a person put out of the protection of the law by processof outlawry. A woman is properly said to be waived rather than outlawed. Out-lawry was usually the result of non-appearance of the de-fendant or accused at the trial, and involved deprivation of all civil rights. It was finally abolished in civil pro-ceedings in 1879 by 42 & 43 Vict. c. 59, § 3. In criminal proceedings it has become practically obsolete, and the Criminal Code, § 458, proposes to formally abolish it.

In Scotland outlawry or fugitation may be pronounced by the supreme criminal court in the absence of the panel on the day of trial. In the United States outlawry never existed in civil cases, and in the few cases where